Sunday, June 24, 2018

Ephesians 4:26,27 "Getting a Grip on Anger"

PLEASE NOTE : ANGER IS ON LETTER SHORT OF DANGER

On this Lord’s day we conclude our annual Family weekend, with our focus on ‘Dealing with the Heart
of Anger', by turning our
attentiontoEphesians4:17-32 and in particular verses 26,27: “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and
give no opportunity to the devil”.

Our
text shows us at least 4 things we need to know about anger:

(i)there isroom for righteousanger.

(ii)we mustbe careful to not let this anger spillover into sin.

(iii)
we must keep short accountsofour anger.

(iv)
Satan easily abuses uncontrolled anger.

From this outlinewecan seethat angeris a complex emotion, since it hasboth a good and a badside. Before we go there, afew introductory remarks to this text are in
order.

In the greater context of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians this
subject is raised within thepractical application section of Paul’s
letter to the Ephesians. Paul is always concerned that our Christian faith must
have a practical outworking. The knowledge of God and of Christ and of the
Peron and Work of the Holy Spirit must work itself out in a life of biblical
love and good works. In anutshell,
Christianity is the following of, and the imitation of the life of Christ, our
elder brother.

And so it is that Paul reminds this group of Ephesian
Christians that, having become Christians, they
can no longer walk as the gentiles do, in the futility of their minds…. (4:17- 19). You cannot be a Christian
and continue in your old sweet merry way…. That
is not the way you have learned Christ!(4:20,21).Instead, Paul says, you must put off your old self,
which belongs to your former way of life and iscorruptthrough deceitful
desires, and to be renewed in the spiritof your minds, and put on the new
self,createdafter thelikeness of God in true righteousness and holiness’(4:22-24). Then, in4:25-32,
he gives a few practical illustrationsof what therenewed Christian
mind (4:23) looks like and acts
like. Among these is to be found an instruction on anger- our focus text.

Christian ability is based on the fact that God has recreated
us.There is a great difference between
moralistic Christianity and biblical Christianity. Moralistic Christianity is
basedupon ‘self –effort‘, whereas
biblical Christianity is based uponthe
fact that you have received a new life.What proves the fact that I have become a Christian, endowed with a new
nature?My desire to be obedient to a
new way of thinking about God and His Word! And it is a new way of
thinking!It is often counter cultural,
and contrary to the way in which we have been brought up, andcontrary to our societal norms.Since we have come under new managementwe had to
learn to put off old habits of
thinking and living andput on new
habits of thinking and living.In fact, my newbehaviouris not simplydue to the fact that I have decided to turn over a new leaf, butit is the outworking of an inner miracle! This last Friday I turned 40 yearsold ! It was on the 22nd of June
1978 that I was converted by the power of God. I was given a desire to follow
and to ‘learn Jesus’ (4:20). I still have not recovered from that day, and I am
stillfollowing and learning by the
principle of that inner miracle of conversion, and it is by thatpower of Christ in methat I live.Have you received that new life and new powerby which you can live this Christian life?

So, I trust that you can see thatthereare immense issuesat stake in
the everydayissues of truth-telling,
and anger, and stealingetc., which Paul deals with now inthe verses ahead. Our particular interest
liesin dealingwiththe problem of anger through the recreated heart and therenewed mind.

Ephesians 4:26,27says, “Be angry anddo not sin; do not let the sun go down on
your anger, and give no opportunityto the devil.“

We have already observed that there are at least 4
thingsthat this text teaches us.

1. There Is Room For
Righteous (Good) Anger

It seems that Paul makes reference here to what David said in Psalm 4:4,“In your
anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.“The Bible recognizes that there is a valid emotion called anger, butthere is a fine line between righteous and
unrighteous anger.What is righteous
anger?

Righteous anger is being angry with that which God would be
angry with. Illustration: In Mark 3:5,
Jesus was in a synagogue on the Sabbath. He was about to heal the shrivelled
hand of a man.The Pharisees were watching
to seewhether he was going to do,what they considered to be an illegal work, on theSabbath. The Scripture says, "Jesus
looked around at them with anger, grievedat their hardness of heart ..."[ By the way , if Jesuswere here among ustoday, would Henotbe righteously angry withour society for theoppositesin of the Pharisees- the abuse
of the Lord’s day, which has been turned
intoa market day, andhas ceased to beday in which we delight ourselves in the Lord.
In Jesus day the problem was legalism, in our day it is libertinism].

Jesus was angry becausethese people ‘s heartsmade
afalse distinction between the law,
andthe God of the law. The law is righteous and holy and good. God is
righteous and holy and good. The law represents God. Our problem isthatwe take the lawand make it
burdensome bydivorcing itfrom God. The 10commandments , the moral law of Godare designedto be a blessing from God for this life, but people like the
legalisticPharisees thought that they
mustbecome the policemen that would
help God to maintain law and order, and in so doing they weremisinterpreting and watering down theholy intent of the law. God does not want
human interference in the application of the law. He simply wants us to love Him
and honour Him in the keeping of the law. Can you blame God for being angry with us when we abuseHis NameandHisholy law? And you
as a Christian, with love in your
heart for God,andwitha
renewed, tender conscience,… when you get angryat the misuseof God’s law and
the inversion of God’s law … are you notsharingin God’s anger?John Stott writes in his commentary in
Ephesians (p.186): ”… there is agreat need in the contemporary world for more
Christian anger. We human beings compromise with sin in a way in which God
never does. In the face of blatant evil we should be indignant not tolerant,
angry not apathetic. If God hates sin, His people should hate it too.If evil arouses His anger, it should arouse
ours too.

In this spiritPsalm 119:53 says:“hot
indignationgrips me because of the
wicked, who have forsaken your law.”There is room for anger, provided that is in agreement with God.

2. In your anger do not sin

Here’s the tricky part about anger.Righteous anger can so easily spill over into
self- righteous anger.We may become easily
angered at the wrong that others do whilst failing to see it in ourselves. In
ouranger we must be very careful that weare not hypocritical.

In 2 Samuel 12:5we read that David’s
angerwas greatly kindledwhen the prophet Nathantoldhim how a rich man(who had a
large number of sheep) tookthe
onlyewe lambfrom a poor family, in order to set a meal
before his guest.This unrighteousness
greatly angered David. But David had
toswallow his wordswhen Nathan reminded himthat he was in fact that rich man who
tookaway Bathsheba, the wifeof his general Uriah,in 2Samuel 11. David was caught out – for he engaged in hypocritical
unrighteous anger.

Another aspect to David’s perspective:David had seen so muchthat was wrong in his own family – the rapes
and the murders and the shenanigans among his sons and daughters, that heno longer expressed any angerat any evil that they did!He overlooked or seemingly condoned their
evil.The reason for this was that
David had lost the ‘moral high-ground’ to express his righteous anger. He was
in no position to judge his children, because he himself was guilty of these
things.

The way to avoid unrighteous angeristo
take note of what James 1:19-20has to say:“… Everyone should be quick to
listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God
desires.”If we are slow to anger (i.e.
act with patience),and if we control
ourselvesand consider the matter
carefully, then our anger, if itarisesat all, l may very well be
godly angerwhen we discover that God's character is dishonouredand not ours, and when God's aims are resisted , and not just ours.

Righteous anger is not self- centered.Righteous anger happens when we become angry
when God’s Name is dishonoured, and when other people are dishonoured.So it is important that we look atthe motive for our anger , and to make sure
that in our anger we do not sin.

3. Keep short accounts withanger

“Do not let the sun go
down on your anger" means, that we should resolve our anger on the same day.Sometimesreconciliation is impossible on the same day, because it always takes
twotosettle the matter. When this happens, make sure that you do not nurse
that anger, lest it takes hold of you and makes you a resentful, bitter person (Hebr. 12:15).This reminds us then that anger, though it is
a legitimateemotion,is a dangerous emotion and must not be
allowedto dominateus, lest it begins to control us. John Piper gives good counsel: Anger is the moral equivalent of biological
adrenaline. It is good and healthy to experience periodic secretions of
adrenaline in reaction to dangerous situations. But a steady flow would damage
the heart. So with anger. It has damaged many hearts because it was not put
away, but nurtured again and again into a life-destroying grudge.[1]Seek
tosettle your angeras quickly as possible, since …

4. Satan easilyabuses uncontrolled anger .

The Scripture says that uncontrolled anger gives Satan a
foothold – an entrance point into your life. When he finds this foothold, he
will ruin marriages, families, churches and countrieswithresentment and bitterness. He feeds on angry people. It provides for
him an opportunityto export his
fruitofhatred, violenceandwhatever
else. Anger is a wind that easily blows
out the lampof the mind”[2].
Thegreat danger with angeris that it easilymakes us irrational . So,don’t be fooledinto thinkingthat when you becomeirrationally
angry or unforgivingthat youare ‘entitled’ to these feelings. The
devilis laughing because he has found
an effectivehold upon your soul, while
you are stillnursing your grudgeand thinking that it is your right to do so.
Angry and bitter people ultimately always end up hurting themselves more than those
that they are angry with. Unforgivenesshappens when there is prolongedand unfinishedbusinesswith anger. Illustration:In 2
Cor. 2:10,11the apostlePaul warnsthe Corinthiansthat a foothold
forthe devilis unforgiveness:If you
forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was
anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in
order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

Let these four convictions from the text then settle in our
hearts and minds. You will not find such good and succinct counsel for your
soul anywhere in the world.Believe the
Word of God and live by it and you will find yourselfblessed by God, bothnow and forevermore. Amen.

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Welcome to this Sermon Blog

These sermons have been preached by Pastor Joachim Rieck of the Eastside Baptist Church, Windhoek, Namibia over a number of years. They are published as an additional help or resource for our congregation and anybody who may profit from these.

These are obviously only manuscripts, and as such they cannot fully convey the preacher's passion for the Word of God. I preach on average 45 minute sermons, and therefore much of what I say and apply to the congregation with the help of the Holy Spirit is not found in these manuscripts.

I freely acknowledge my huge debt to commentators and other preachers who have helped me to think through the Scriptures.

Any mistakes or errors are mine, and I am happy to be corrected wherever I may have erred in my exegesis or interpretation.